✨ The Nut Chronicles Part 4 ✨

The Nut Chronicles, Part IV: The Burrow Beyond the Bark

 

It began with a rustle. Then a glow. Then an exceptionally dramatic puff of moss.

One morning, the squirrels awoke to find Quendalith sitting very still, hovering a few inches off the ground, eyes closed, emitting the faint sound of wind through reeds. Not that he had eyes. Or a mouth. But somehow the expression was unmistakable.

“Something’s wrong,” Pibbinook whispered, nudging Thimblegruff, who was still mid-snore.

“Probably just dreaming about dirt again,” Thimblegruff mumbled.

“No, he’s vibrating. Look.”

And indeed, Quendalith was humming like a moonberry on the verge of popping. Then, with a shimmer of barklight and a whiff of something that smelled like forgotten dreams and toasted lichen, a folded object materialized beneath him.

It was a map.

Not a regular map. A swirling, glimmering scroll etched in ink that moved when you blinked. Landmarks included things like “The Twig That Remembers,” “The Unsure Pool,” and one ominous direction simply labeled: “That Way (Don’t).”

At its center was a spiral, pulsing gently — and the unmistakable shape of their own hoard burrow, nestled right on the edge of something labeled: “The Burrow Beyond the Bark.”

“What does it mean?” asked Pibbinook, wide-eyed.

Quendalith slowly blinked his glow. “It means the grove has shifted. There’s an opening. A place older than roots. A burrow that burrows deeper than burrows dare.”

“...Right,” said Thimblegruff. “And what do we do with that?”

“We go,” said Quendalith. “Together.”

Now, if you’re unfamiliar with squirrelfolk, you should know that squirrels are not natural explorers. They are natural hoarders, snackers, nappers, and occasional shriekers. But going into an ancient mystical tunnel rumored to predate trees?

That was… not on the usual to-do list.

But the map shimmered.

The spiral pulsed.

And the hoard — oddly — was shrinking.

Not stolen. Not moved. Just… subtly, unmistakably less.

The final nudge came when Pibbinook reached for his favorite backup walnut and found it replaced with a small, smooth stone carved with a spiral identical to the map.

“Well,” said Thimblegruff grimly, slipping his acorn helmet on sideways. “Guess the burrow’s coming to us whether we go or not.”

So they packed essentials: snacks, tools, ceremonial moss, a thistle-fork (just in case), and a very tiny pillow carved from pine. Quendalith tucked the map behind his glow and whispered something to the wall, which shimmered briefly with runes of farewell.

And then they turned.

To the tunnel.

To the bark beyond bark.

 

And the deep spiral unknown.

 

✨ The Burrow Beyond the Bark may be mysterious, but one thing isn’t: the earrings inspired by this tale are very much real (and ready to sparkle).
Click here to see the piece born of ancient spirals and squirrel courage.

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